Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Yeah, but no, but yeah, but

So the argument wasn't about not wanting to play but about not wanting to warm-up, how strange is that? One of the oldest professional tricks in the book is that a player will start warming up to attract the manager's attention in the hope of getting himself on the pitch. Carlos Tevez seemed to have adopted the opposite approach and decided that he would ignore his manager's idea about warm-ups, presumably overlooking the fact that he could have pulled a hammy within minutes of stepping onto the pitch and thereby exclude himself for the next six weeks.

The FIFA guidelines on the basic contents of a professional footballers contract include (within section 5) the following:

5.2 (a) to play matches to the best of his ability when selected and
(d) to comply with and act in accordance with the instructions of the club officials

It's not difficult is it? We pay you £250,000 a week and in return you play football when asked.

I have to disagree with some of the comments I've heard today about Man City 'bossing' the first half, if that was the case why did Roberto Mancini take Dezeko off and replace him with a defensive midfielder in De Jong rather than going after the game?

Man City may have started the domestic season well but there is a world of difference between beating Wigan and a Spuds team that had seen their first match cancelled due to National Riot Week and playing a Bayern side that had won its previous nine matches including comfortable wins against Schalke and Leverkusen.